This seems to be the month for earthquakes.
About two hours ago, the US Geological Survey reported a 7.4 earthquake in the Mexican state of Guerrero. No major damage has been announced. Also, as many people remember, March 11 marked the first anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that ravaged Japan. And of all this comes following the Mercury’s own apocalyptic earthquake scenario for Portland.
Of course, with disaster in the air, numerous people have asked: “What can I do to be more prepared?” They also asked, “Why didn’t you include any of that stuff in your story?”
Well for starters, it’s true. We intentionally didn’t include that preparedness stuff in our story. As our editor, Steve, explained in a comment, “there have been plenty of articles beforehand that have laid out exactly what you should do.” But for those of you who are still hungry to know—or too lazy or hopelessly fatalistic to do your own research—I will refer you to a pretty good Portland Occupier post written by volunteer emergency responder Jeremy O’Leary.
In his piece, O’Leary talks about how Portland’s sustainability ethic could inform our response to the “Big One.”
Having very well-insulated houses, rain water catchment systems, bicycles, vegetable gardens, fruit & nut trees, greenhouses, alternative energy… are all, or could be extremely effective in the recovery phase after a disaster. The wrinkle is that we need to be thinking through all of these in the context of a disaster.
His piece also links to a number of other helpful get-ready-for-disaster sites.
Of course there is nothing for schmucks like me who live in unreinforced “killer” masonry buildings without backyards. But I will let that slide.
As the resident complainer, thanks for the link — it hadn’t gone up yet when I was doing my cursory pre-whining Googling.
I lived in Japan for 15 years, and lived through the 3/11 earthquake last year. I was in Tokyo at the time. “Sustainability” means nearly zero in case of a major earthquake.
(1) If you are a home owner, earthquake retro fit your home. An earthquake proofed home with no insulation is better than an insulated home that’s in a inhabitable pile.
(2) Make a disaster kit. Your jump bag should have all your cash, credit cards, blank checks, digitized financial documents, and insurance contracts. 3 days water & food per person. Water sanitation kits. Menstrual pads. Pain killer (trust me, you will need ibuprofen). Anything specialized for the people in your household (baby formula, diapers, prescription). Wind-up radios. There are plenty of online resources for what to have and do beyond this.
(3) Mentally review what you would do in case SHTF. Having an idea of where you would go and how you would do it is immensely valuable under stressful situations. What would you do if the big one hit at work (I was, slept at the office overnight on cardboard boxes)? Have you worked through how to get back to your family? Your supplies? In my case, I actually have a second mini-emergency kit with a hardhat, sturdy shoes, and safety gloves for storing at the office.
(4) Periodically update your stuff and plans. Things change over time, food & water expire, and improvements can always be made.
Jeremy’s got it right! His thinking on this is what will get us to a real culture of preparedness everyday and not just when the earth shakes!
Good advice. And if you really want to get serious about preparedness, buy yourself a generator. They’re pretty cheap, will fit in almost every home, and will make the difference between living like refugees and some semblance of normality. Think: easily boiling water for drinking, heating the house, hot showers, cooking, seeing when you go to the bathroom at night, etc. Of course you can do tall this with camping gear, but not as easily or as well. Store about 10 gallons of gasoline as well in a cool, dry place. Plan to run the generator only a few hours each day if fuel supplies are limited.
Let’s write up a little shopping list: “Very well-insulated house, rain water catchment system, bicycle, vegetable garden, fruit & nut trees, greenhouse, alternative energy.” Gotcha. Current amount in checking: $1.46. Oh oh … daddy gonna die.